By David A. Willauer-Contributing Writer

Oceanside CA— In his third year as head coach at Oceanside High School, Dave Rodriguez believes the Pirates are ready for the 2017 football season.
“We have a rich tradition at Oceanside and our young men understand what their responsibilities are. We’ll be a hard-nosed team but a little thin in some of the positions. Our kids have worked hard doing contact drills on the field. We will be playing a tough early schedule this season along with our competition in the Avocado League,” said Coach Rodriguez:
Oceanside opens tonight at 7:00 pm against defending Southern Section and State Champion, San Clemente. “They are an amazing group of athletes, a very physical and well-coached squad.”
Our quarterback will be different this year as Alex Miller, who has been an understudy to Max Sheppard, for a couple of years gets the job. He carries a 4.0 GPA, is very intelligent and has matured into a young man. He has a grasp of what he has to do on the field and is learning the system very well.” said the Pirate Coach.
“Our running backs this season will be Jonathan Singey who doubles at linebacker along with teammate Michael Linnin. Both players have emerged at camp and will split some time. We also have Caesar Mendoza who reminds me of a Darren Sproles type back and is tough as nails. Those are three of the running backs in our spread offense.” said coach Rodriguez
“Our tight ends are modified running backs Armond Felicili, Darrel Ball, Kyram Beacham and Dylan York. There will be some new faces with a lot of athletic ability. Armond’s brother Elijah Felicia will be in the rotation so it’s a good mix with a good chemistry.
“Our offensive line, we replace 8 guys and return 3 starters from last season; Donovan Laie, who is 6’6″ 315 pounds, Mason Buczek 6’2” 285 pounds and Isaiah Kaleopa Tuisee. We’re looking big up front,” said Coach Rodriguez.
“At the tight ends, we have Jordan and brother Kyron Duson along with Donovan’s brother Kiki Laia. It’s a unique situation with a set of brothers and cousins on the team. We also have Hunter Stoll and Ethan Venegas, who transferred to us from Arizona, both will be worked into the mix,”
“Our defense will be a veteran bunch. We return our leading tackler, Armond Fesili Marks from last season along with teammates, John Segi, Jordan and his brother Keilan Duson. On the edge, we have Donovan Laie, Molson Moses Tauililli, who joins us from the Los Angeles area. It’s great to have him Kyrin Beacham who as a sophomore didn’t get a lot of time along with Julian Hicks, Azizi Hearn and teammate Micah Linnen will be back in the swing. We have more guys back on defense than offense but that’s the way it goes in high school football,”
For the for the last 2 years, I had Jake Gerardi as my kicker. I am looking at Lucas Solberg to take over the kicking and punting duties. He also plays soccer and kicks left footed which changes things a lot. He has learned to transfer his soccer talent to the football side.”
“For me, I expect us to improve a lot this year. I have an excellent coaching staff and this season we have a new quarterback coach, an alumnus from here at Oceanside named Joe Pao Pao. Joe played and coached in the Canadian Football League for years and brings all that experience to our team,” Coach Rodriguez said. “We’re excited to get started because our guys are tired of hitting each other in practice.”